The Beach
by Midoriri
Summary: AU, Genderswitch. Mello takes his wife and child to the beach. But why isn't Near going into the ocean?


**This fic is dedicated to Danielle Anderson, who requested that I write a happier Girl!NearxMello story. She also wanted them to be married with a child, so I thought I'd do just that. ;)**

**Also, those who've read my previous stories may be confused, so let me explain something. Yes, little Mihael from "Carry on the Legacy" is here, but no, Mello is not dead. Nor is Matt. It's like an AU of the fics... Hope that made any sense...**

Mihael'd been wanting to go to the ocean for ages, starting when the summer began and the air heated up. The kid had tried all sorts of ways to convince his parents, starting with asking politely, then pleading, then complaining, then showing up in his bathing suit to dinner. Near'd been ignoring him, but after the first few times, Mello had found himself wanting to go the ocean too. (Partly because it'd be nice to swim, and partly because he wanted to see his wife in a bathing suit.) So one night, before the two went to bed, he looked right into Near's dark eyes and said "We're going to the beach this weekend."

Near had blinked at him before turning away and shrugging in a non-committed way. Mello took that as a 'yes.'

However, on the actual date of their trip, Mello found himself standing outside the bedroom with Mihael standing next to him (with an inner tube around his little waist), pounding on the door. "Near!" he shouted impatiently. "Get your butt out here!"

"Just a minute..." came her voice. But the minute passed, and...nothing.

Mihael, a little boy of five, with white hair and blue eyes, looked pitifully at his father. "Daddy..." he whined, tugging Mello's pant leg. "I wanna swim..."

"Blame your mother, not me," Mello growled under his breath. He may have been married to the albino genius, but that didn't mean she didn't royally piss him off on a daily basis. "Near!" he shouted again, pounding more urgently. "Come _on!"_

"Hold on..."

Mello didn't _want_ to hold on. Growling something under his breath, he turned the doorknob and barged into their bedroom, fully intending to drag Near out and to the car if it came to that.

At the same time he entered the master bedroom, the door to the adjoining bathroom opened, and Near came out (still fully clothed), holding a canvas bag in her hand. She looked up at Mello blankly. "Yes?"

"Mommy, let's go!" Mihael cried from outside the door.

"You heard your son," Mello said, reaching forward and taking Near's wrist in his hand. "Let's _go_. And what were you doing in there?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I needed to get some things ready," Near answered solemnly. "So I can keep myself occupied."

"Near, the water's enough to occupy you..."

"Not everyone swims on the beach, Mello," Near answered, smiling a little.

In the car, Near sat in the backseat with Mihael (who was still wearing his inner tube when Mello'd tried to buckle him in. It took a few extra minutes to convince him to remove it and stow it on the floor) and stared out the window, holding her bag in her lap. "Did everyone put on sunscreen?" she asked as they pulled out.

"I did!" Mihael answered, lifting a slightly-shiny arm to prove it. "And so did Daddy."

Near nodded, still staring out the window. (If a stranger had seen the way she acted, all distant and seemingly uncaring, they'd be sure that perhaps she and Mello were divorcing, and Mihael was the step-child to Near's evil step-mother. But then, strangers didn't live with them, and so didn't see the way she was around them when in private...)

**-oOo-**

"Mihael, don't do that!" Near called out as Mihael ran, whooping, toward the beach without waiting for his parents to get out of the car. "Mihael!"

"He'll be fine," Mello answered, removing the bag of towels and beach toys, and handing off the umbrella to Near. "There're people all over the place, and besides, knowing him, he'll wait for us right at the edge of the water."

Mello was right. When they'd reached the sandy area, they soon caught sight of Mihael, wearing his dark blue swimming trunks and inner tube (it was like he was _born_ with that thing...) standing at the edge of the wetter sand, staring at his parents. "Come on!" he called, bouncing in place.

"Can you give us a minute?!" Mello shouted back, struggling to get that stupid umbrella to stay firmly in place. Near sighed and took it from him.

"I've got it..." she said quietly. "Go on out there, Mello..."

While Near was setting up the umbrella (and, Mello noticed with irritation, doing a better job than he'd been), Mello began discarding his leather outfit. (Near had called him crazy once, for wearing black leather in the summer. And she came _very _close to outright laughing at him when she caught sitting next to the air conditioner, looking very irritated and refusing to remove his clothes. (At least at that moment...)) After peeling off the shirt, he removed his pants, revealing the black swimming trucks.

Near rolled her eyes behind his back. Why was everything her husband owned black? _Well, at least they're not leather..._she thought. Wait, did they even _make_ leather swimsuits? She certainly hoped not.

"Yay!" Mihael cried when he saw Mello coming towards him. "Come on, Daddy!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." As he reached the water and waded out until he was up to his waist, he turned to look over his shoulder at the almost-pure white figure that was Near. "Are you done yet?" he called out.

Near lifted a hand and waved dismissively at him while she unfolded a beach chair. "Nearly," she answered him.

"Well, hurry up, alright?" Mello called before turning his attention to Mihael, who was floating in a little circle around him and humming the "Jaws" theme song. "Come here, you," Mello growled playfully, scooping the boy out of his inner tube and lifting him into the air.

Mihael let out a sharp cry, then laughter as Mello tucked him under one arm (the inner tube was sent back to the shore by the waves) and waded out further, threatening, still playfully, to dunk him under. He actually did at one point, submerging the boy for a few seconds and pulling him, coughing and sputtering, back up. "Well, you have to hold your breath," he chastised him, smirking.

"You surprised me! No fair!" Mihael cried, kicking his legs in a vain attempt to land a kick on his father.

"No, if I wasn't being fair, I'd throw you," Mello laughed. "Way out there into the open ocean..."

Mihael screamed as Mello lifted him over his head, pretending to get ready to follow through. But Mello only pulled him back down and tucked him to his chest, ducking them both under the water completely for another few seconds before coming back up.

So absorbed were they in this little game that it took Mello a full ten minutes to realize that Near hadn't joined them. _Where _is _she?_ Mello thought to himself, lifting Mihael up once again and glancing around. Was she in the bathroom, or getting a snack, or did she simply get washed out to a different part of the water?

But when Mello caught sight of her, it turned out she wasn't doing _any_ of those things. Instead, she was sitting under the umbrella, on a beach towel, and playing solitaire. _What the hell?! _"Mihael," he said, setting the boy down in shallower water. "Don't go anywhere, okay? Stay here and wait for me."

"Where're you goin'? Are we leaving?" Mihael cried out nervously, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"No, but your mother's leaving that damned towel if I have anything to say about it..." Mello muttered to himself. "Near!" he cried when he got closer to her. "What are you doing?"

Near, still wearing her nightgown, rolled her eyes upward to look at Mello. "I'm playing solitaire, she said simply. "And I'm losing," she added, returning her gaze to the cards.

"No, not that," Mello said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why are you in the shade, in your nightgown like you've escaped from the hospital, and playing cards instead of out in the water?"

"Would you rather I _not_ play cards?" asked Near, slight laughter in her voice.

"Yes, I would rather you not play cards," Mello hissed. He then blinked as Near returned the cards to the bag she'd brought and withdrew her puzzle. "That is _not_ what I meant!"

"Well, I can't play in the sunlight," Near said, somewhat patronizingly. "I put on sunscreen, but the sun's still too bright for me. I'll burn."

Mello growled and squatted down in front of her, taking her face in both hands and jerking her head up to look into his eyes. "I don't care if you look like a lobster at the end of today," he told her. "Get out there!"

"I can't swim," she said emotionlessly.

"Then just walk on the beach, make a sand castle, or something! And take off your nightgown!"

Near stared at Mello as if she suspected he was crazy. "I can't. I'm not wearing anything underneath."

Mello blinked. _What? _"You're not wearing anything...underneath?"

Near shook her head, not breaking eye contact. "No. And I don't have any bathing suits, either," she told him, gently taking his hands away from her face and turning away, going back to her puzzle. "I hope I don't lose any pieces out here," she muttered to herself, dumping the pieces on the towel.

Meanwhile, Mello was just sitting there, dumbstruck. She had no swimsuit, she wasn't wearing anything underneath the nightgown, she was just going to play wit her toys... Damnit, why'd she come to the beach if all she was going to do was play with toys in a different environment? (If she wanted to do that, she could just paint a scene on the walls of every room in the house. Wait, on second thought, no. No way were they going to pay for God knew how many cans of paint just for scenery. That and it'd be odd, to say the least, to walk out of a beach-bathroom and into a city-bedroom. Especially after a shower...that'd be like going skinny-dipping and walking naked into the crowded streets...)

"Daddy, why isn't Mommy coming out with us?" Mihael asked loudly as he saw his father, grumbling to himself, sloshing angrily through the water.

"Because Mommy doesn't swim and hadn't the foresight to pack a giant inner-tube for herself," Mello growled, casting a dark look over his shoulder. Near was still in the shade, acting as if she had no remorse for doing this. Damn, and Mello had _so_ wanted to see her in a bathing suit...maybe a cute black bikini...

"Oh," Mihael said, looking around Mello to see Near. Near looked up at him and waved by simply lifting her hand in greeting. Mihael grinned and waved enthusiastically. "Aren't you gonna pick her and throw her, waaay out into open ocean?" he asked innocently, looking back up at Mello.

"Nah...that stupid nightgown would weigh her down and then I'd have to go and rescue her," Mello said with a wry grin. He shot an evil smirk toward Near, feeling most diabolical. _She thinks she's won, huh? We'll see about that..._ His ensuing internal villain laugh was cut short when he heard Mihael humming the "Jaws" theme again. He smiled and looked up. "Pick me up, again, Daddy..."

Mello complied.

**-oOo-**

Once they got home, Mihael was given a bath to wash the salt and sand from his body. Near made a beeline for the bathroom connected to their bedroom, claiming she needed a shower because "the towel apparently didn't keep _all_ the sand away." This was Mello's chance.

While he sat on the toilet, keeping an eye of the half-cleaning, half-playing Mihael, he called Matt on his cell phone. "Matt, can you come over tonight?" he asked.

Mikael looked up eagerly. "Uncle Matt's coming?!"

Mello lifted a hand to shush him. "And spend the night?"

On the other end, he could hear Matt's video game music. And apparently, he'd called in the middle of a boss fight. "Yeah, I guess...why, what's going on?"

"Hold on," Mello told him and lowered the cell phone. "Mihael," he whispered. "Can you keep a secret from Mommy?"

Mihael nodded, eyes wide, looking pleased to be in on knowledge that his mother wouldn't have.

"Good, then don't tell her Uncle Matt's coming. Don't tell her a thing..." Mello said quietly before returning to his phone. "I'm going somewhere with Near later. And I need you to keep an eye on Mihael."

"Why isn't he coming with you? No!" he cried as he, apparently, died. "Damnit!"

"It's just something between the two of us, okay?" Mello said irritably. Wasn't the fact that he needed a baby-sitter enough of a hint of what would be happening? He stepped outside the bathroom (after promising Mihael he'd be back in two minutes, and keeping the door ajar in case something happened) to tell Matt the next part. It was a good thing that she was still showering, and was on the other side of the house. "We went to the beach today, and Near didn't do squat," he grumbled. "I'm taking her there later so she can actually_ do _something with me..."

"Oh-ho!" Matt said. Mello could hear the smirk in his voice. "You two going to have some sex on the beach?" he asked suggestively.

"Matt, that's disgusting! Sand gets everywhere, and you got the salt in the water to worry about. And can you imagine getting sand-fleas all _over_ you?"

Matt was grinning, Mello could tell. "You sound like you know from experience..." he teased.

"Oh, shut up."

**-oOo-**

For some strange reason, Near'd fallen asleep unusually quickly that night, and so was oblivious when Matt showed up an hour later, grinding his cigarette butt beneath his foot. Mihael had been happy to see him again, and was even happier when he found out that Matt was sleeping in _his_ room that night.

This way, when Mello shook Near's shoulder to wake her up at three in the morning, she didn't have the slightest idea of what was going on and who was with their son. "Near, wake up," Mello whispered urgently as he shook her awake.

Near's eyes opened as she groaned and shifted to look up at him. "What is it?" she mumbled, still not quite awake (and so not noticing that her husband was only wearing his swimming trunks).

Mello smirked at her and helped her out of the bed. "Get up. We're going to the beach."

"At this hour?" Near inquired, now wide awake. "Mihael's going to be cranky," she muttered.

"Mihael's staying home."

Near's eyes widened and before she could say something, Mello assured their child was with a sitter. As they walked out of the house, quietly, Near glanced down and saw the cigarette but on the porch. "Oh, Matt's here," she said calmly.

And she kept giving Mello strange looks when she climbed in the passenger seat (on Mello's demand) and noticed the towels in the backseat, and lack of sunscreen. "Mello..."

"The sun's not up yet, you won't burn," he said nonchalantly as he started up the car.

"Yes, but it's dark out. We won't be able to see anything."

"Well, that's fine, because we won't be _too_ active..." Mello said cryptically as they backed out of the driveway and started their drive. "Just don't fall asleep, alright?"

**-oOo-**

There wasn't much of a wind at all, at this hour. So Mello didn't have to worry about weighing down the towels to keep them from blowing away. Near watched apprehensively as he set out two towels, the sides touching so that it seemed to form one bigger towel. "Mello, what are you planning exactly?" she asked.

Mello smirked as he straightened up. "Near, come here," he ordered her.

Near shot him a dark look, but obeyed, blinking in shock when Mello started to unbutton her nightgown. "Mello!"

"Near, you're going into the water whether you like it or not," Mello said, still smirking as the nightgown was opened up further. He quickly slipped it off her shoulders, letting it land on the towel, before lifting her over his shoulder and taking off toward the water.

"Mello, put me down!" Near cried out, lifting herself up with her hands pressed against his bare back. "Put me down, now-_Aah!"_ she gasped as he did so-right into the ocean. It was colder than she'd expected.

Mello only grinned wickedly and lifted her, shivering, back up, one arm wrapped around her shoulders, the other beneath her legs. "Come on," he said, wading out deeper into the water, watching her shiver as her feet became submerged. "If you'd gotten a bathing suit, I could have done this to you yesterday, when it was warmer."

Near glared at him, gasping and drawing closer to him when he stepped out further, the water up to his waist. "Cold...that's cold..." she whispered into his chest. Mello didn't know if she referring to his actions or to the water.

"As I said..." he shrugged, before telling her to hurry and take a deep breath. Before she could protest, he ducked beneath the water, both of them completely surrounded by the cold liquid that moved like it was alive. Near's grip on him tightened as her body seized up due to the cold temperature of the ocean. After a few seconds of this, Mello straightened back up, Near coughing and shivering.

"Mello, you're horrible..." she gasped.

"No, if I was horrible, I'd do this!" He quickly set her down and grabbed her the waist, pitching them both sideways into the waves, Near's surprised cry cut short. Seconds later, they both surfaced, separated, Near coughing up saltwater and glaring at him from beneath her white bangs. Mello only smirked and moved closer to her, drawing her shivering form against his. "You don't need to be able to swim," he said softly. "Not with me around..."

Near tensed up against him before drawing away, wading out deeper until the water was up to her chest.

"Near, what are you doing?" Mello called out, following her.

His wife turned around to stare at him blankly, before taking another step and vanishing under the water's surface.

"Near!" Mello splashed towards the spot where she disappeared, crying out in shock when she suddenly resurfaced and sent a spray of icy water towards him. "Hey! Near, _you're _the horrible one, not me!" he cried, retaliating with his own splashing.

Near only smirked and continued. And then it was war.

**-oOo-**

"You see?" Mello said smugly a few minutes later, as they lay stretched out on the towels. Mello had brought a thin blanket to spread over them, so they wouldn't be completely exposed to the very-early morning air and freeze to death. "You don't know how to swim, and you still had a damn good time..."

"No thanks to you nearly killing me," Near said, smiling into his shoulder. "If I die of hypothermia or pneumonia, I'll be haunting you forever. And not in a good way. But first I'd call a lawyer and change my will," she smirked.

"You wouldn't."

"Yes, I would. Everything would go to Mihael and Matt, and you'd have to ask your own son for money," she said, still smiling, before sighing and pressing herself closer to him. "That was fun," she said quietly.

Mello nodded. "Told you the water would keep you occupied, but you don't listen to me, do you?"

"Mmm...I wouldn't say it was the water that occupied me. Mello was the one who did that."

For a few minutes, neither said anything. Especially since a few seconds later, Mello'd decided that maybe Matt's suggestion wasn't such a bad one after all.


End file.
